XMen
by WorstWritersEver
Summary: Crossover with XMen. Professor Xavier finds Clark Kent with Cerebro and sends some XMen to contact him. Spoilers for XMen 2 and season 2 finale.
1. Loss

I don't own Smallville (DC Comics and Warner Brothers) or X-Men: the Movies (Marvel and 20th Century Fox). 

Spoilers for season 2 finale and X-Men 2. **Please don't read if you haven't seen the movie. It will ruin everything for you. **If you haven't seen the Smallville season 2 finale. It is okay; you will just be a little confused. 

Summary: Clark is wearing red kryptonite and has run away from home. Professor Xavier is in Cerebro and notices a blue dot. Sends some X-Men to investigate. Alternate Universe (AU) _This is not the comics._

*****

Clark sat on his motorcycle and was driving somewhere, anywhere. He had to get as far away as he could from Smallville. He had caused his parents to loose the baby, something that was extremely important to them, maybe even more than him. He had felt so bad that he ripped through Chloe's office and found the red kryptonite class ring. He wanted it, no, he needed it. He didn't want to feel what he was feeling. He hated himself and the ring would make him not care so much.

He thought back to when he left Lana. He had wanted her to go with him. She refused and it broke his heart. _Why had all this happened now? _He finally was with Lana everything was great.

Then the voice from his ship had to go and ruin everything. It said it was his father's memory. It called itself Jor-El. It said it was here to guide him to rule the world. He didn't want to rule the world, he just wanted to be Clark Kent. He wanted to just be a normal kid with a girlfriend and living with his parents. _Why does nothing good happen to me?_

Clark revved the engine and poured on the speed. He knew he could go faster than the bike ever could, but he didn't want to run right now. He didn't want someone to see him and have another problem on his hands.

He had been driving for a couple hours when he noticed his gas was nearly on empty. He hadn't thought about gas and he had no money. Just then he drove by a gas station with an outside ATM machine. A small smile pulled at the sides of his mouth and he turned the motorcycle around. He turned into the parking lot and pulled up to a pump. He filled up the motorcycle and looked around. No one was there, only the worker, probably the owner, was inside watching TV. 

He didn't want any problems with the police right now so he looked around and saw a camera, he was still out of its line of sight. He looked at it and a second later the camera was on fire. He walked up to the ATM punched a hole in the side and pulled out a handful of cash. He was thankful the clerk had the TV blaring or he would have heard the crunch from the machine. He could have taken all of it but he knew he could get more cash anytime he wanted. He didn't want the police or something worse after him, so rather than just steal the money and gas, then go, he thought it would be smarter to pay for the gas. After all who would believe that someone would steal from an ATM just to pay for their gas. He stuffed the hand-full in his pocket only keeping out a twenty to pay for the gas. 

He walked into the store it smelled old and rotting. It was dirty and needed repairs but he didn't care it wasn't his place. He would have grabbed something to eat and drink but those were the last things on his mind. He walked up to the counter eager to pay and get back on the road. He set the twenty on the counter when he heard the ding of the door opening. The cashier rung up the gas and was about to give Clark the change when he heard a gun cock next to him.

*****

Professor Xavier was completely baffled at what he had found. He was in Cerebro and had been searching for any new mutants that he thought he might be able to help. He didn't know if the person he found was a mutant, or not. His brain activity was unlike anything he had ever felt. His mind was unusually strong and Xavier would have never noticed it in the first place had something not happened. The anger and pain the person was feeling upped his brain waves just enough that he was able to notice him. He followed the blue dot for a moment longer. It was traveling north of Metropolis, Kansas. 

Xavier then pulled off his helmet that connected him to Cerebro and set it on the console in front of him. He turned in his wheelchair and headed out. He wanted someone to check this out as soon as possible. He would send Jean and Ororo. Then Xavier felt an ache in his heart. He kept doing it. Forgetting that Jean was gone. It hurt to still think that he had lost one of his people. He didn't quite understand why she had left the plane himself. But he kept up a strong face for Scott. He knew if he showed any weakness Scott might possibly have a breakdown.

He would send Scott and Ororo. He contacted them telepathically and told them to meet him in his office.

"What do you think it is?" Scott asked. His skin was slightly pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. He looked as if he hadn't slept for a week. And it was probably true.

"I'm not quite sure. He is definitely not human and I am not even sure if he is a mutant." Professor Xavier said.

"Do you think he could be a mutant and his ability is to be able to block anyone from invading his mind?" Storm asked.

"I don't know. All I know is I can only feel his presence with the help of Cerebro and even then I can't get in his mind."

"How do you know it's a him?" Ororo asked.

Xavier smiled, "there are some things that you just know."

"We'll go find him right now." Scott said as he turned to leave the room.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Xavier said. Even though he knew Scott wanted to. He knew Scott wanted something to do, to keep his mind off of her. "Scott be careful. Something bad has happened to him and he could be unstable. I will send you his new coordinates when you get into the area."

Author's Note:Please don't be afraid to critique us we're not afraid. In fact we learn better that way.


	2. Help Maybe?

"Give me all your money the man yelled!" Clark turned to see medium sized man holding a 9mm gun. He moved the gun frantically back and forth from Clark, to the cashier. The man was wearing a black ski mask on his head. 

Clark didn't feel in the mood to humor the man. He had thought of just leaving, but taking care of the situation sounded a little more exciting. In the blink of an eye he reached out and grabbed the gun out of the man's hands. Then he bent the barrel until it touched the end of the handle. 

The man stared at him, eyes wide in complete shock.

"Now, if you're not out of here by the time I count to three, I will break you in half." Clark said in an amused voice. The man stared at him like he was crazy, "One . . ." Clark smiled at him, "two . . ." the man ran out the door, "three." Clark said as he heard tires squeal out of the parking lot.

"Oh, thank you." the cashier said. "If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."

"There is one thing. This never happened." 

"Yeah, it never happened." the man agreed with a little fear in his voice. "Come by any time, snacks are on me."

Clark walked out and hopped on his motorcycle. He knew he could have handled the situation a little more discreetly, but this way was so much more fun. He knew now that there was a gas station attendant and a robber who could expose him for what he was. But he didn't care and it felt good not to care.

He revved the motorcycle's engine for a moment before he sped down the road once more.

*****

Pete sped down the road making sure not to speed too much, he didn't want to be delayed by getting pulled over, every second counted. He hoped he wasn't too far behind Clark. The last he had seen of Clark was when he was looking for the red kryptonite ring that was in Chloe's desk. He tried to stop him. He had chased after Clark and went to his house hoping to find him there. The only one he found there was Lana crying. She told him Clark had rode away on his father's motorcycle.

Pete hoped he was heading in the right direction. He would have been closer if he hadn't stopped to grab a huge chunk of green kryptonite. He knew he would need it to get the ring off of Clark.

He thought back to the first time Clark had a red kryptonite ring on. Clark was just like an unruly teenager. The problem was Clark was extremely strong and it wasn't good for him to loose control.

It had been Mr. Kent's idea, to use the kryptonite, he had told Pete to get close to Clark then open the lead box. He had wanted his friend back just as much as Mr. Kent had wanted his son. He remembered he found Clark in that corn field, and approached him. He stepped closer to Clark and opened the lead box to reveal the green kryptonite. When Clark saw it he turn and saw Mr. Kent on the other side. Clark then swung to hit Mr. Kent when Mr. Kent pulled out a sledge hammer and smashed the ring while it was still on Clark's finger. 

He knew this time would be a little harder because he didn't have a lead box and if Clark saw Pete he would expect he would have kryptonite. He would have to figure out how to get the kryptonite near Clark. 

*****

Scott was glad to get out of the mansion. Everything there reminded him of Jean. 'Course the _Blackbird_ also reminded him of her since the jet had a lot to do with her death. He hadn't slept for over a week because every time he laid down to sleep he couldn't stop thinking of her. Her smell was everywhere, on the pillows and even on his clothes. He was glad he had a mission.

"Scott." Ororo said.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The Professor has been trying to talk to you."

He shook off his thoughts. "Go ahead Professor." He needed to stop thinking of Jean.

"Your getting close to him, I will update your coordinates when needed so you can track him." Professor Xavier said.

Scott was now on auto pilot not really paying attention. Flying was second nature to him now. He just zoned out and before he knew it the target stopped moving. Cyclops was glad they were in the middle of nowhere otherwise it may have been a little harder to land the jet. He found a nice spot in some trees to land. He turned on the vertical thrusters and lowered them gently to the ground.

He and Ororo walked over to the hotel. It wasn't hard to see what room he was in since there was only one vehicle in the parking lot, a motorcycle. They walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer so he knocked again.

"Go away." He heard a voice yell from the room.

Scott undeterred, knocked again. The door then opened to reveal a young man with dark hair. He was the about the same height as him.

"What?" the young man said angrily.

Scott looked at him, he had to be only seventeen years old. "Hello, I'm Scott Summers and this is Ororo Munroe. We are from Xavier's School For The Gifted. Can we come in and talk?"

"No." he said as he started to close the door.

Scott put his hand up and stopped the door. "Please, we will only be a moment." He could see the young man thinking through what to do. Then he opened the door and gestured with his hand to say come in.

*****

It was dark now and Pete was starting to wonder if he had went in the right direction. He was about to give up and call Mr. Kent to tell him what was going on when he spotted the motorcycle. He pulled into the parking lot. Then he turned off the engine and watched as two strangers dressed in black approached Clark's room. He assumed it was Clark's since it was the door with the motorcycle in front of it. When the door opened he could see Clark standing in the room. Then the two strangers went inside. Pete couldn't tell if he should be more worried for Clark, or for the strangers.

Pete again considered calling Mr. Kent, wondering if he might think of a plan. Then he figured Clark wouldn't let him get close enough to do anything. In the state of mind Clark was in he was sure that if he saw any of them, he would bolt and they probably would never see him again.

*****

Clark wasn't quite sure why he let the people in his room. He looked at them the man had a visor on. Clark couldn't figure out why he would wear one when it was dark outside. "Speak." He said not having patience.

"First, what is your name?" Asked Ororo.

Clark didn't know what to tell them. He didn't feel like a Kent anymore. The last time his father had spoken, he spoke with such hatred. He thought he would use the name the ship had called him. "Kal-El."

"Kal-El, we help people that are gifted. We teach them how to control and use their gifts responsibly." Ororo said.

Clark laughed, trying to hide his worry that these people might know of him. "Gifted how?"

"Have you heard about mutants?" Storm continued.

Clark wondered if they were talking about meteor mutants. He was curious now. Had meteor mutants actually started a school? The concept seemed a little funny to him. Did they know that the mutants were his fault? "How do you know about the mutants? And what does this have to do with me?" 

"Mutants are getting more and more known." Ororo said.

He remembers now, hearing something about mutants at Liberty Island, and an attack at the White House, it had been on the news, but he figured they were more like urban legends. "Are they? I can fix that." He said with coldness in his voice.

Then Scott and Ororo looked at each other, he could tell they were a little confused and worried. "We have reason to believe that you are gifted. We are here to offer you help." Scott said.

"Help? I don't need your help." Clark spat as he stood and opened the door gesturing for them to leave.

"Please, we only want to help Kal-El." Ororo said again.

"Your too late." Clark said as he practically shoved them out. Then he slammed the door and sat on the bed. It felt weird for someone to call him Kal-El. 

*****

Pete watched the room. He wondered what the two strangers would want with Clark. They were in the room about ten minutes before they came out again. He watched the strangers walk into some trees across the street. Then he got an idea, maybe he could somehow get them to bring the kryptonite close enough to Clark, to make him weak. Pete hoped Clark would be weak enough that he could pull it off his finger. Then he would have his friend back.

The only problem was to be able to do it without revealing Clark's secret.

*****

"That went well." Scott said as they walked back to the jet. "He and Logan would get along very nicely."

"I wonder what happened to him. He said we were too late."

"I don't know, I'll call Xavier." Scott turned on the communication and called the Professor. He explained to Xavier what happened. "When Kal-El heard of the mutants he said he would fix it."

"Wait and see what he does. Maybe he will come to you. Scott, I gather from what he said, you shouldn't tell him you and Ororo are mutants. Not until we know what we are dealing with." Xavier said.  
"Got it. I will call you tomorrow." Scott turned the communication off and then walked to the back of the ship to Ororo. "I guess we're staying here tonight, and Ororo, the Professor said not to tell Kal-El of our abilities." Then he pulled out two beds from the wall and laid down. 

Cyclops went back into his mode of thinking of Jean and before he knew it he fell asleep. He and Jean were on a picnic, she was sitting on the blanket laughing. Scott watched her with excitement. How had anyone with such beauty and intelligence as her fall for a guy like me. He moved in to give her a kiss when he heard some thunder claps, Scott groaned and prepared for the shower. The thunder claps seemed to get more urgent, then they turned into knocking.

*****

Clark laid on the bed thinking about what they had said to him. So, there was a school for mutants he thought. Now he wanted to check it out. He got up and went outside to find where Scott and Ororo went. He didn't see them but who he saw was much more interesting. He watched as Pete crossed the street and went into the woods. 

He thought again of the ship's voice and how it had told him he would rule the world. Clark smiled ruling the world wasn't sounding like such a bad idea anymore. 

Author's Note: Yes I know Ryan couldn't read Clark's thoughts and Xavier is much stronger than Ryan. Hence even though Xavier could sense Clark, and only with the help of Cerebro, he still couldn't read his mind he could only sense him. 


	3. Oops

Pete got out of the car and found that the strangers had gotten into a jet. He was completely shocked by the sight of the jet. First, there was no runway and it was in the middle of trees and second, he had never seen a jet like it before in his life. It was sleek and black the wings pointing forward. 

He knew he should have called Mr. Kent but he also knew that Clark wouldn't let any of them get near him. He didn't want to wait. He pounded on the door or what he thought was the door. He didn't hear anything so he pounded on it again. The door started to open and Pete jumped to the side as the door touched the ground where he had been standing.

A man walked out and looked at him. Or Pete thought he was looking at him because he couldn't see his eyes as a visor covered them. Pete didn't know what he was doing. He just stood there and wished that he had thought it through more. "I'm sorry I made a mistake." Pete said and then he turned to walk away.

The man reached out and grabbed Pete's arm. "Wait kid. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry I need to go." Pete said. 

"You can tell us." A woman said as she walked out.

"It's okay you can trust us." The man added.

"I'm really sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry for disturbing you." Pete said as he pulled away. He kept walking and started to mumble to himself. "Smart Pete, real smart. What was I thinking?"

"Yes Pete, what were you thinking." Clark said as he stepped out from behind a tree. 

"Clark." Pete said surprised. He stopped walking. 'What luck.' Pete thought to himself. He had the green kryptonite in his pocket. Now if only he could get Clark to move closer.

"So, you were going to tell them of my secret huh?" 

"No," Pete said instinctively then quickly changed his answer. "Yes, Clark I was going to tell them your secret." Pete hoped Clark would go to attack him. He only hoped the kryptonite would work fast enough.

"I guess, I know I can't trust you now." He took a step closer. Pete was getting excited he was only about six feet from him. "No matter to me though. I'm going to tell the world and all will worship me." He said as he took another step closer.

Pete couldn't wait any longer. He pulled the kryptonite out of his pocket and stepped closer at the same time. It came to life with light as soon as Pete had it near Clark. Clark fell to his knees. "Pete." Clark said, pain in his voice as he fell the rest of the way to the ground.

* * * * *

Storm and Cyclops had followed after the boy and saw the conversation. Storm didn't quite catch what was going on. She wasn't close enough to understand what they were saying. Then she saw the boy pull out a glowing green ball and when it got close to Kal-El he fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Storm said as she and Cyclops stepped out of the trees.

"Help me." Kal-El said as he looked at Storm.

She moved quickly and saw that it wasn't a ball but some sort of rock. She pulled it from the boy's hands.

"No!" The boy yelled as he tried to get the rock back. "No!" He yelled again.

Storm knew it was hurting Kal-El and she wanted to get it away from him. How could this boy be so cruel? She knew they weren't to let Kal-El know of their abilities but if she didn't help him it looked like he might die. "Cyclops." She said then threw the rock in the air. Cyclops used his optic blast and the rock exploded.

"What did you do?" the boy yelled. "No!"

Next thing Storm knew Kal-El was holding the boy up in the air by his neck.

"Clark." The boy croaked not quite able to speak right.

"What were you doing Pete? You know you can't get rid of me that easy."

"Clark?" She looked at Kal-El. "Kal-El, let him go!" Storm said starting to realize she had made a mistake.

"Thank you." Kal-El said as he looked at Storm.

"Let him go!" Cyclops said as he placed his hand by his visor ready to fire.

"Goodbye Pete." Kal-El said as he threw him at Cyclops. The next second he was gone. Storm looked around but couldn't see him. 

Cyclops got up and picked up the unconscious boy.

"Is he okay?" Storm asked.

"I don't know but he is alive. We better talk to the Professor."

They both got into the jet. Cyclops strapped the boy to one of the beds to keep him from rolling around the jet. 

Storm went and turned on the engines. She was so mad at herself. She had thought the boy was being cruel but now it looks as though he was trying to help. She turned on the engines. They needed to get back to the mansion and make sure the boy is okay. Cyclops came up and put his seatbelt on as he turned on the communication.

"Oops." Storm said.

"Yeah oops." Added Cyclops.

* * * * *

Jonathan sat in the chair that was sitting next to Martha's hospital bed. He was glad she finally fell asleep. She had been crying off and on since the accident. He finally got her to sleep about an hour ago. He rested his head on the back of his chair. The pain in his heart hurt so much. His eyes started to well up with tears again and he couldn't stop himself from crying. He had wanted the child more than anything in the world. Even more so because Martha wanted it so badly.

What had Clark been thinking? He was so angry with him right now. He still loved him but he had risked his family. His wife was in the hospital and could have died. All because of Clark's selfishness. He should have told them the truth. They could have helped him somehow.

He heard a soft tap on the door. He looked over at Martha to make sure she was still asleep. He wiped his eyes of and stepped out into the hall. Lana was standing there tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong?"

"He left, I didn't know what to do and Pete went after him." She said frantically between sobs.

"Wait slow down. Who left?" Jonathan said as he grabbed Lana's shoulders.

"Clark he got on the motorcycle and left."

"What? Clark left? When?" Jonathan asked not sure he was hearing it right. 

"Yesterday, after he found out about the baby."

Jonathan felt his heart sink. He felt as if his whole world was falling apart. "What? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I thought he just needed to blow off some steam and I thought Pete would bring him back. But I haven't seen either of them."

Jonathan's mind felt like it was shutting down. He just lost the baby, he couldn't loose his son too. Now he was angry with himself. He shouldn't have yelled at Clark. "You say Pete went after him."

Lana nodded hugging herself.

"Do you know which direction they went?" 

"North, I think."

"Lana, can you stay here with Martha?" Jonathan asked and Lana nodded yes. "When she wakes up tell her I went home to do some farm work. Don't tell her about Clark yet?"

Jonathan was driving in a rented car down the highway at high speeds. He didn't know if he could take anymore heartache. 'Not right now,' this was almost too much to handle.


	4. On to the Mansion

Pete's head was swimming, he had a slight, no make that roaring headache. Then he remembered, Clark had almost killed him. His best friend from the time he was little and he tried to kill him. He was more in shock from that than from anything else. His neck still hurt from where Clark had held him. 

What had happened? He was so close to getting Clark back but those people took the kryptonite from him. The man had shot something from his eyes and the kryptonite exploded. Okay he admitted that freaked him out a little too.

Pete opened his eyes, the light slightly hurting them. Once his eyes focused he saw slick dark gray, nearly black metal. He tried to sit up but found he was tied down to a bed. He started to struggle and panic started to set in. Were they going to hurt him? Why had those people helped Clark? 

* * * * *

Cyclops and Storm were flying the jet back to the school in New York. They had called the Professor and told him the situation. Their orders were to get back to the school. He told them they could take care of the boy there and maybe he would be able to tell them what is going on with Kal-El.

They had been flying for about an hour when Storm heard the boy moving in the back. She moved to the back of the jet. The boy looked as if he was freaking out trying pull free. 

"Don't hurt me!" the boy said. His voice being a little hoarse, she could also hear panic and fear. 

"I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Ororo Munroe. If you calm down I will be able to unhook you."

The boy calmed down but he was still breathing heavily. Storm unhooked the buckles and the boy sat up.

"Now what is your name?" She asked sounding as nice as possible.

"Pete, Pete Ross." He said the worried look not leaving his face.

"Pete can you tell us what happened back there?"

"I was hoping you could tell me the same thing."

Storm sat on the seat across from him. She figured there was no harm in telling him they were mutants, since he had seen Cyclops use his optic blast. "Scott and I are mutants."

"You guys are meteor mutants?" Pete asked shocked.

"What?" she asked confused. "What are meteor mutants?"

"You said you were mutants. So the kryptonite affected you guys?"

"No." She said still confuse. "We have a gene that's in humans. The difference between us and humans is our gene is active. What is kryptonite?"

"Kryptonite is that green meteor rock he blew up." He said as he nodded toward Cyclops. "Possibly making it so I could never get my friend back."

"So you were friends with Kal-El?"

"I don't know who that is. I was trying to help Clark and you ruined everything. Why did you take the meteor rock from me? You have no idea what you have done."

"Then tell us." She said.

Pete didn't say anything he just sat there.

"You can trust us."

Pete still didn't speak. She tried to get him to tell her what was going on for a little longer. Then she figured he wasn't going to say anything more. Before she moved back to the front of the jet she instructed him to put a seat belt on. She watched as he calmly moved to a seat and strapped himself in.

* * * * *

Clark watched as the jet lifted into the air. He was going to follow them to this school of theirs. He assumed they would be heading back to where they said they had come. They had taken Pete with them too. 

He couldn't believe it his best friend using kryptonite against him. Scott and Ororo had taken care of that though. He was completely surprised though, when Scott had blown up the meteor rock. It was definitely more powerful than his heat vision. He started to wonder if they were Kryptonians.

The jet took off at an amazing speed. Clark started his run. He had never followed a plane before, let alone a jet. He hoped he would be able to keep up. It was hard sometimes to see the jet in the sky it had some sort of camouflage that protected it from being seen. It was no problem for him though he just used his x-ray vision when he couldn't find it. 

After about an hour of running he started to loose sight. It had been slowly pulling away from him from the beginning. Now it was getting hard to see. Then as he was about to loose it, the jet stopped then descended straight down. He knew he would be to it's landing spot in a matter of minutes.

* * * * *

Professor Xavier had been going over the information that Scott and Storm had given him about Kal-El. After he was finished with his class he went down to Cerebro to see if he could tell if Kal-El was on the move again.

It didn't take long to go down the corridors. He had only stopped for a second as he watched Logan teaching Scott's mechanics class. He knew Logan liked it but he was putting on a face of total dissatisfaction from having to teach.

He also passed Kurt's class. He could hear the students repeating German. The Professor had decided that Kurt could teach some classes now that he had joined their ranks. What better than the language he was born with.

He entered Cerebro, the familiar voice welcoming him as he rolled to the end of the pier. He put on the helmet that looked like it had metal umbilical cords running from it. Xavier placed it on his head he reached out with his mind and felt the world open up to him. 

He searched for Kal-El's signature expecting to find him a little north of Kansas. He watched as he was moving along the ground just behind the jet. "Impressive," he said to himself out loud. The jet was landing in a couple minutes. There was no time to warn Storm and Cyclops of their tail. 

Xavier figured he could sort things out when they got there. He pulled off the helmet and headed to the hangar. He had just approached the hangar when the doors opened and the jet came down and landed smoothly. 

* * * * *

Jonathan felt as if he were going to hyperventilate. His whole world seemed to be falling apart. He kept his eyes open watching for anything. He hoped Lana was right in saying they went north. 

He drove by a hotel and saw his motorcycle. He slammed on the brakes, turned around and pulled up next to the motorcycle. He jumped out of the car and confirmed that indeed it was his. He was so excited he had found him. He ran up to the hotel door and knocked on it. "Clark! Clark are you there?"

There was no answer he pounded on the door a little longer. After a minute he stopped and noticed the truck. It was the Ross' truck. He ran up to it to find it was empty. He looked in all directions hoping to see them. "Clark! Pete!"

He then ran to the office to see if he could find out what happened. He walked quickly up to the desk. "My son is staying here. Have you seen him? He is over six feet with dark hair."

"Yeah I know who you are talking of. I don't know where he is. He disappeared."

"What?"

"He paid for one night but his bike was still here when the maid went to clean the room. When she went inside the room was empty. She said the bed wasn't even slept in." 

"What about another boy about sixteen? He's African American and about this tall." He said as he help up his hand. "Have you seen him?"

"Nope, haven't seen any boy that looked like that. Just the other one."

"Are you sure?"

"Look around you, business is slow, I would remember if I had another person come in here."

Jonathan swore under his breath as he stormed out of the office. He then stood in the middle of the parking lot. He felt completely lost. He looked around again hoping to find something anything that could tell him about what happened. 

Author's Note:To those of you that want more description I am sorry. With so many options of stories to read I figured fast and sweet were the best way to go. 


	5. Westchester

Pete didn't know what to do. He was on a jet with two people who were mutants. Were they meteor mutants? He was afraid to trust them. All of the mutants he had met so far were insane. These two seemed better but he didn't want to chance it.

He heard the engines change as they started to descend he knew now how the jet was in the middle of some trees. He felt the jet land and Scott and Ororo got out of their seats. They moved to the back of the jet as a door opened.

"Pete you don't have to be afraid you are safe." Ororo said. "I want you to meet someone please come with me." She said as she held out a hand.

Pete stood and followed Ororo and Scott off the jet. He saw an older bald man dressed in a nice suit sitting in a wheel chair. 

"Good morning Pete." The man said as he smiled a friendly smile. "I'm Professor Xavier and you are at my school for gifted youngsters." Then he turned to Scott. "Kal-El will be here any minute."

"How? We flew at near top speed." Scott said shocked.

"It seems there is a lot about Kal-El that we must learn. Or should I say Clark?" He said as he looked at Pete. Pete felt completely shocked. He didn't know why because he had already mentioned Clark's name. "Don't worry Pete his secret is in safe hands." He turned back to Scott again. "I had checked on him and he was moving at an incredible speed. Nearly keeping up with the jet."

"How do you know this?" Pete asked confused.

Xavier looked at Pete as if he were trying to decided if he should say something. Then he spoke, "You must be hungry," and he turned to Ororo. "Would you take him to his room and find him something to eat."

Pete wanted to ask Xavier how he knew again but took the hint and followed Ororo. She took him down a gray lit up hallway. After they turned down a few halls they stopped at a small room. Pete walked inside. There were no windows and a small bed.

Ororo walked up to a wall and pushed a button that Pete hadn't even seen. A panel opened and revealed a TV screen. She pushed another button and another shelf popped out to reveal a game system. "I will go get you some food. You can watch TV or play some video games. Is there anything you would like to eat?" Pete didn't say anything. He felt kind of like a prisoner but he knew he should stay put. He wasn't hungry either. "I'll just bring you whatever is in the fridge then." And she walked out of the room. 

Pete sat in the room for a while just staring at the screen. Then he decided to turn on the TV. There was a stupid TV show and he flipped through the channels. "...And back to our top story Lex Luthor is still missing." Pete changed the channel then stopped. Had they said Lex? He changed the channel back. "Lex Luthor was recently married when on his flight to start his honeymoon his private jet went missing. At this time we have little information. We do know that the jet did not reach it's destination and was reported missing this morning. We will update you on this story as more information reaches us." Pete turned off the TV. Now Lex was missing. He hated him but to go missing on your honeymoon was just wrong. 

* * * * *

Professor Xavier could tell that he shouldn't tell Pete at this time how he knew of Clark. He had told Ororo privately in her mind to take him to one of their "guestrooms." It was more used for students who shouldn't be around the other students until they are able to cope with them. 

He remembered one of the first students to be in the room, his name was Jason Stryker. Xavier shuddered when he thought of Jason. Jason had put a hallucination in Xavier's mind. He had nearly killed all the mutants then all the humans. Jason was dead now. He had died at Alkali Lake.

Scott had been looking at him now for a minute. "Professor are you okay?" 

"Yes. Kal-El had deceived you. His name is Clark Kent. The information I got from Pete is that Clark is an alien from a planet called Krypton."

"Wait, an alien?" Scott said disbelievingly.

"Yes an alien. He is the last of his kind. The meteor rock you destroyed is green kryptonite and it drains Clark of his energy. Clark is going bad because of a ring that has red kryptonite in it. The red kryptonite takes away his inhibitions."

"What? So your saying that had Storm and I stayed out of this Kal-el, I mean Clark would now be. . ." 

"Sane?" Xavier said filling in the word. "From what I understand. Clark is the kindest person Pete has ever met."

"Now what do we do?"

"We'll have to try to see if we can get the ring off of him. I think you should go to the town he is from, Smallville, Kansas. There you should get some of the green kryptonite and get back here as fast as you can."

"I should stay here and help."

"Scott you won't be able to do much to help. He is virtually invulnerable. The best thing you can do is to grab the kryptonite."

Scott ran back inside the jet and started up the engine. Xavier moved back and watched the jet take off once more.

* * * * *

Bobby watched as the Jet took off again. He was wondering why Scott was leaving so soon again. He assumed it was Scott since he was the one to usually go on missions since Alkali Lake. "What do you think is going on?" He asked the girl next to him. He looked over. Every time he looked at her she took his breath away. She was so beautiful. He wished so much that he could touch her. He started to reach his hand up getting closer to her face.

"I don't know let's go see if anyone knows." Rogue said as she turned and looked at him. She paused as she saw his hand close to her face. 

Bobby grabbed her glove-covered hand and they walked out of the room. They saw Peter walking down the hall. With a pile of books under one arm. Peter was a very large boy his other name was Colossus. His gift was his ability to cover himself with body armor basically turning him into steel. "Peter, do you know what is going on?"

"No, Kitty is sneaking down right now. I am going to put our books away and she is going to meet some of us in the Game Hall." Peter said with a slight Russian accent then kept walking quickly to his room.

Bobby and Rouge moved quickly to the Hall. Kitty was able to go places none of them were allowed to go given she could walk through anything. They wanted to know just as much as anyone what was going on. When they got to the room there were about ten people in there.

They ranged in age from about ten to seventeen. Bobby and Rogue moved over to the couch and sat down. The rest of the kids were on other furniture or playing games.

* * * * *

Clark finally got to the area he thought might be where the jet had landed. He could only see trees around him. Then he heard and engine very close by. He turned to his right and ran to the noise. He saw the black jet rising above a mansion. Then it took off into the distance. He fallowed the fence and found a gate.

A sign was embossed into some brass mounted on an entrance post. "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"So a school full of mutants." Clark smiled. "I will take care of them." He put his hand up and hit the gate. The lock busted and the gates flew open. Clark heard alarms start to blare in the mansion. "Knock knock her I come."

*****

Kitty Pryde walked through the lower level halls slowly. She knew that if she were caught sneaking around the lower levels she would be in trouble. She and Peter had been sitting in class when they saw the jet come in. As soon as class was over she handed him her books. She knew he knew she was going to see what was going on. That was how the students knew about a lot of the things that happened because she snuck around a lot. 

She had been caught a few times before but she knew she would never be in serious trouble if she made sure she stayed away from Cerebro and more importantly the Danger Room. She was told that is where the X-Men did their training and if she walked into the room, it would take high security measures to get rid of her possibly killing her.

She made sure she stayed clear of that part of the lower levels. She walked through a room that held the outfits the X-Men wore when they were on a mission. She stopped at one that was probably Storm's. She couldn't wait to become one of the X-Men herself but she knew that was years down the road.

She continued through the next wall and kept walking. Then she heard a faint noise on the other side of a wall. She stopped and thought of poking her head inside. She knew she shouldn't but she wanted to know what was going on. And it was sort of her mission to find out. A lot of people were counting on her info.

She slowly walked up to the wall she knew there was a risk that whoever was in there might be pointed at her. She also knew that they could possibly not. She poked her head through the wall slowly and saw a plain room. A boy sat on a bed. She had came in beside him. She was getting ready to pull her head back out when he turned then yelled. She pulled her head out quickly and ran as fast as she could to get back up to the upper levels. 

She knew she was in trouble. Then an alarm went off. "I didn't do that." She said to her self. 


	6. Guess Who's Coming

Jonathan had spent the entire day searching the town located near the hotel. He felt like he had knocked on every door. No one had seen or heard anything. When it started to get dark he decided he better head back home. He had already called Mr. Ross just before he was ready to head back to Smallville. He had hoped to find them before he had to call him. 

The phone call had haunted him. He hated that he was the one to tell Mr. Ross that his son was missing. He also didn't like that he did it over the phone. Mr. Ross was completely upset as he expected. He told him he would leave the rental car and drive the truck home with the motorcycle in the back.

It was now dark and he had already stopped at the Ross'. He was standing outside the hospital room, afraid to tell Martha that their son was missing. Jonathan stepped up to the door and stepped into the room. Martha was asleep on the bed and Lana was sleeping in a chair next to her. He quietly walked up to Lana and nudged her slightly. She woke and looked up at him. He put his finger up to his mouth to say quiet.

Lana pointed to the door and he understood that she wanted to talk. He moved out of the room following Lana. He looked back at Martha sleeping in the bed then he quietly closed the door behind him.

"Did you find him?" She asked, he could tell she already knew the answer. He shook his head no. "She asked for you all day. I don't think she believed you were on the farm."

"I knew she would figure it out. I'll tell her when she wakes. Why don't you go home?"

He watched as Lana walked away. He knew it had to be hard on her too. Jonathan knew she and Clark were finally getting close when all this happened. He moved back into the room and sat by the bed.

"Jonathan?" Martha asked sleepily.

"Yes honey." He looked at her she was still as beautiful as the day they met even with the bruises from the accident. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew he was going to have to.

"What is going on? Where did you go? Is Clark okay?" She asked each question not giving him time to answer he could hear her voice start to quiver.

Jonathan felt his body start to shake. How was he going to tell her that Clark was missing? He moved and sat on the bed pulling her into his arms. He could feel tears stinging his eyes and he couldn't hold them back anymore. 

*****

"Jonathan, Jonathan, what is it?" Martha asked fear entering her voice. She knew he hadn't been at the farm. She wondered what he had been doing all day. Jonathan held her tighter. "Jonathan, tell me." She was getting ready to panic.

"It's Clark." Jonathan said in a choked voice. He pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes.

"What is it!" She asked starting to panic.

"He's gone."

"What do you mean gone? Jonathan, your scaring me."

"Clark left, he took my motorcycle and left. I-I searched for him all day. I had a lead but nothing came from it. I searched all day, Martha. I don't know where our son is."

Martha felt as if her heart had stopped. She couldn't breath. It can't be. Clark wouldn't run away. It's not like him. It can't be. She felt as if the world had stopped moving. First, she lost the baby and now she has lost her son it was too much. She felt as if she were slipping from sanity. She felt as if she were watching herself from a TV. 'It was okay none of this was real,' she told herself, 'anyway it is just a show.' Then she felt two strong arms wrap themselves around her and she snapped back into the hospital bed. She heard Jonathan crying and she joined him.

*****

Rogue heard the alarm and moved to the window as some of the rest did the same. The others started to run for the hidden passageways fearing another attack. She could feel Bobby standing behind her. She looked out over the grounds pointing to the back of the mansion. "Who do you think it is?" She asked sounding a little more sacred than she meant to.

"I don't think is Stryker's men. They wouldn't attack in broad daylight." Bobby said. He sounded almost like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"I see someone." Said Peter from across the room.

All the remaining kids moved to the other window and looked out. Rogue squeezed in to try to see who or what it was. She saw a tall teenager walking intently down the path heading to the front door. She felt Bobby grab her hand and she squeeze it. She looked back at him and he smiled a reassuring smile. He always made her feel safe.

The boy looked in their direction then looked right at them. He smiled a sardonic smile and kept on his path to the front door. Rogue and the others now moved close to the foosball table where they could see the front door from the room. They watched as the front doors flew open nearly flying off their hinges. 

The boy looked at them and smiled, it sent shivers up and down her spine. The boy seemed disturbed, almost haunted. He looked as if he were going to move toward them and she had a jump of fear. Then she heard Logan's voice. She felt safer in an instant. The boy stopped and turned to Logan.

Rogue felt completely safe now with Bobby at her side and Logan confronting the stranger.

*****

Pete was freaking out now. He had just seen a girl looking at him through a wall. A wall! How was that possible? Sirens started to blare and he was wondering what they were for. Were they under attack and if so by who? Pete walked up to the door and tried the handle. He expected to be locked in the room but the handle turned easily. "This whole time I could have left." He said surprised to himself. 

He ran down a hallway and felt like he was in a maze. Then an elevator opened down the hall. Pete ran to it, he wanted to get out. A man stepped out of the elevator at least he had thought it was a man. The man was dark blue and had a _tail_? Pete slid to a stop nearly hitting the man and fell backwards onto his back. 

The man yelled and disappeared and reappeared a couple feet away. "Sorry." Said the blue man with a German accent. Pete just laid on the ground breathing heavily. The blue man walked up to him. "Here let me help you up." The man said as he reached out a hand and pulled Pete to his feet. 

Pete reflexively pulled away from the man as soon as he was standing. He saw the hurt look on the man's face and immediately regretted it. He remembered he had looked at Clark that way when Clark told him he was an alien. He remembered the look on Clark's face, he had been devastated. "Sorry it... it's just I'm not used to people looking like you."

"It's okay I'm not used to people apologizing." The man said and smiled revealing sharp teeth. His eyes were yellow and he had markings all over his face. Pete wondered if they covered his entire body. Had he not already known that aliens existed and there were meteor mutants he probably would have freaked out more. Only these people according to Ororo were mutants because of an active gene. 

"The names Pete." He said offering his hand surprised at himself.

The man shook his hand. "Kurt Wagner but in the Munich Circus they called me the Amazing Nightcrawler." The man said proudly stretching himself to perfect posture. 

"Nightcrawler, cool name." Pete said as he noticed the alarm once more. "What is happening?"

"I don't know."

*****

Logan moved immediately when the alarm sounded. He wasn't going to let another attack happen to the school. He was going to do everything in his power to protect his family. He ran down the hallways as scared kids ran the opposite direction heading for the hidden passageways. He didn't know where he was going he just ran hoping to see someone soon. Logan, don't attack him. He knew it was Xavier talking in his mind. Wait for Storm.

'Don't attack who?' He thought to himself. He heard the front doors swing open with a crash. Logan turned and ran toward the doors. He stopped and looked around the corner slowly in case he needed the element of surprise.

He expected to see someone as vicious as Sabertooth or maybe even Magneto or Mystique. What he didn't expect was a young man, probably about sixteen, with dark hair. Why should he wait for Storm? He could take out the kid in two seconds. Granted the kid was taller than him he figured it wasn't the height that mattered it was the effort of the fight. He stepped out into the open. The boy turned and looked at him. Logan knew he had been looking in the Game Hall. He could also hear there were some kids in there.

"What do you want?" Logan asked taking a step toward the boy. Logan don't attack.

"What everyone wants: money, power, to rule the world. Simple stuff like that." He said sounding nonchalant.

Logan thought the boy was crazy. He snorted amused and asked, "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Oh it's simple really. All I have to do is get rid of all the mutants and then humans will worship me." The boy smiled a big smile. He sounded like he was talking about swatting flies.

*snikt*

"Claws? Metal claws? Very interesting."

Logan don't attack. Logan shook his head as if shaking away an annoying bug. He took a step toward the boy. Surprisingly the boy held his arms straight out to his sides leaving him wide open.

"Give me your best shot." He smiled and laughed a little.

Logan let out a war cry and ran at the boy.


	7. It Begins

Chloe sat at her computer. She was compiling all the information she had on Clark. She was now glad she had not deleted the information on the adoption of Clark. She thought she would use that as a starting point. She pulled up the file and stared at it. She read through the information and printed the page then stood and moved to a black board that so far had **Clark** underlined and in big letters on the top center of the board. 

She had found the black board a couple of weeks ago. She had been staring at the wall and found a crack in it. When she walked up and put her hand on the wall to examine the crack the wall suddenly clicked. Chloe quickly removed her hand to see part of the wall pop out a couple of millimeters. She grabbed the protruding wall and tried to pull it open but nothing happened. After a few minutes of struggling with the wall, it started to move. The hinges creaked in protest as it moved to a position it hadn't been in for over a decade, maybe two.

She couldn't believe she had never noticed it before. She examined the board it was about three feet high and five feet wide. She closed the wall again and examined how it was covering the black board perfectly. The hinges had their own place in the wall completely hiding them. She could understand now that she had never noticed it before. Her instincts told her it was probably where some story ideas had been written before computers had become available. 

She had covered the wall so excitedly when she had become the editor of the Torch that she had not noticed the crack while she covered the wall, underneath it lay what Chloe now regards as a treasure. She would be able to put the information she finds on Clark there and no one would know she was investigating him. 

She stepped up to the board and taped the adoption information in the top left. Next to it she wrote **1989**. She stepped back and looked at the board then stepped up again to write: **Where did he come from?**

*****

Professor Xavier wasn't completely surprised that Logan attacked. He had already known that Logan wouldn't wait but he thought he would try to warn him. He quickly moved down the hall going back to Cerebro. He was hoping that with Clark this close and with Cerebro's help he might be able to do something.

Then he saw Pete and Nightcrawler walking down the hallway quickly. Xavier had an amused look on his face. "I see you two have met. Well that makes it a little easier. Pete I need you to go to your room and stay there. Kurt I want you to protect him."

"Protect me? Protect me from what?" Pete asked. Xavier saw the recognition in Pete's eyes and thoughts as he figured out that the alarm was Clark. "I can help."

"You remember what happened last time. I don't want you to get hurt."

"But maybe I could talk to him."

"No I want you to stay here. Kurt take him to his room and keep him there." Then he told him which room it was in his mind.

Kurt gave the Professor a nod then grabbed Pete and they disappeared. 

Xavier then moved quickly to Cerebro. He sat patiently as the door scanned him then opened. He rolled to the end and put the small helmet with the metal umbilical cords on his head. He hoped he would be able to do something to help in this battle he knew had already started.

*****

Storm heard Logan yelling and she knew that he hadn't waited for her. Xavier had wanted her to go and talk to Clark to try and stall him until Cyclops returned with the kryptonite. She could hear she was too late. She ran down the hall faster now. 

She rounded the corner to see Logan running at Clark. Clark was just standing there with his arms out to the side a grin on his face. 'Oh no Logan is going to kill him.' she thought to herself. Then she watched as Logan's claws started to cut into Clark's gut. Clark had a look of complete shock on his face. Storm wondered why he would be surprised at this since he had been standing there waiting for the blow.

*****

Logan couldn't believe how hard it was to cut the boy. He had expected a normal blow but when he hit him it was like he had hit a steel beam. Although this boy almost seemed a little tougher than steel no make that a lot tougher. No wonder the boy had had a smirk on his face. 'The smirks gone now, ain't it Bub,' he thought as he smiled. Luckily the adamantium was stronger than steel, but it was still tough to go through steel. Logan pushed with all his might as his claws slowly cut deeper into the boy. No one threatened his family, no one.

*****

Clark thought he was completely invulnerable so he was in complete shock when he felt the metal cutting into his gut. It was about two or three inches in him when he came to his senses and hit the man away. The man flew into a room and hit a boy. Clark fell to one knee breathing deeply not from the pain but from the shock. He looked up and saw a woman with white hair round the corner. He recognized her as the woman who had talked to him at the hotel. "Ororo." He said as he stood.

"What are you doing Clark?" 

_How did she know my name was Clark? _he asked himself. Then he had an idea, "So Pete told you my Earth name then? Where is that boy anyway?" He looked around looking through the walls. He looked at the upper levels then to the lower levels. What he saw impressed him. There were lots of hidden corridors and he saw some mutants hiding in them. _I'll take care of them later._

He saw a few lower levels looking nothing like the floor he was on or like anything that should be in a mansion like this. He located many secret chambers and passageways. Then he saw Pete sitting in a room with a blue man. He watched as Pete was pacing back and forth. 

"Clark you don't want to do this?"

"I don't?" Clark asked bemused, now looking at Ororo. "I was sure I thought I did."

"Clark I know you are different than this. If you would just take the ring off then..."

"_You, _know I am different then this? I didn't know we had been that close. And my ring," he said as he lifted his hand looking at the ring, "now why would I want to take it off?" He smiled and looked back at Ororo. "But it makes me feel so good." He looked down at the red kryptonite in the class ring. It sparkled in the light.

Clark heard some footsteps that sounded as if they got heavier with each step. He looked in their direction and saw a large boy. His skin looked as if it were turning into steel. He passed another boy and walked up to Clark.

"Colossus no!" Storm yelled as she move toward them.

*****

Bobby watched as Logan had stabbed into the stomach of the boy. The boy then hit Logan and he flew back into the room. Peter caught him, but with the force that Logan hit him, he was knocked to the ground. Rogue ran over to Logan as Peter easily moved out from under him. Bobby turned his attention back to the fight.

He heard Storm say the boy's name and now he knew his name was Clark. He watched Storm and Clark talking when he heard Colossus coming up behind him. He watched as Colossus' skin turned to armor. Bobby didn't know if this was good or bad. He figured that with the force that Wolverine was thrown that Colossus and Clark might be matched in strength.

Colossus threw the first punch and Clark flew back through the front door. Bobby knew that the door would have exploded into splinters had it not been already been open. He saw Clark land on the ground. Clark was back in in the blink of an eye. Bobby couldn't believe how fast Clark moved, you practically couldn't see him. Colossus then was hit and went flying back over Rogue and Logan then through the window in the game hall. 

Bobby on instinct held up his hand at Clark and the air started to shimmer getting closer to Clark. In seconds ice was starting to freeze around Clark forming a thin layer. Bobby didn't want to kill him, but chill him enough to slow Clark down.

Clark turned his attention to Bobby then smiled and took a step toward him. Bobby then decided he would have to be stronger and tried to freeze Clark rather than just make him cold. Now a thick layer was forming around Clark and he was slowing. Bobby was getting excited, his first fight with a real foe and he was going to win. Clark was now surrounded with over a foot of ice. Bobby feeling it was enough stopped and sighed with relief.

He turned his attention back to Rogue and saw Logan waking up. He ran up to Rogue. He was about to ask Wolverine how he felt when he heard ice breaking behind him. _That's impossible. _He said to himself as he turned and saw the thick ice breaking. Not remembering he lived in a world where anything was possible.

A mist started to form and Bobby saw Storm was causing a fog. The fog became so thick that Bobby could barely see his hand in front of his face. He then heard the ice shatter in pieces on the floor. _At least he won't be able to see us._

*****

Clark had been impressed by the first boy's strength. Then there was the boy who had formed the ice cocoon around him. Clark felt he might have a real fight on his hands. He had thought it would be easy but he was used to knowing a little more about who he was fighting. He took a moment to break out of the ice and found himself in a thick fog. He figured one of these people would be making the fog, it was only logical. Someone among these people would have that ability. With what he had seen from the last three people anything was seeming possible. Clark smiled to himself. "Do you think this fog will blind me?" 

Clark switched to his x-ray vision and saw where everyone was standing. None of them looked as if they were concentrating to do this until he saw Ororo. All the other skeletons he saw were looking around themselves but she was looking straight at him and standing a little stiff. He ran over to her and placed his hand around her throat in a second. Clark wasn't looking forward to killing anyone he for sure didn't want to look any of his victims in the eye, but someone had to do it. "Thank you for making it so much easier for me."


	8. Run

Clark held Ororo in his grip squeezing tighter and tighter. Something inside him fought for control, trying to stop him, he couldn't tell what it was. He could feel the air in the room change like it does before a storm. He could smell the electricity in the air, feel her veins pulsing in his hand. The fog and ozone smell started to dissipate, he now saw the fear in Ororo's eyes. He watched as she started to gasp for air. Clark started to loosen his grip. _What am I doing? _He loosened his grip again as it started to sink in what he had been about to do. 

He was now able to see into the game room. A girl with shoulder length sandy red hair was staring at him, her eyes wide with fear. He watched as her eyes moved from him to Ororo. She sucked in a breath and let out a scream. 

It was unlike anything he had ever heard before in his life. The sound seemed to penetrate him to his very soul. He moved his hands to his ears in a futile effort to block out the sound. His eyes squeezed shut, he felt if he opened them his head might explode. He would have run from the place to put as much room between him and the girl but it seemed to be paralyzing him too. He fell to the ground unable to move. He wanted the girl to stop, she was almost as bad as the effects that the kryptonite has on him. He felt as if he wanted to retch but couldn't. She must have had to take a breath because after what had seemed like eternity it finally stopped. 

Not wanting to stay around and wait for her to scream again Clark was gone. He ran for a few miles before he felt comfortable enough to stop. He leaned against a tree and sat down, his head still pulsing. Clark heard a loud crunching, he turned this way and that trying to find the source of the sound. He saw a caterpillar chewing on a leaf. Then he heard a rumbling, looking around again he saw that the rumbling was matching the swaying of the trees in the wind. 

Clark kept hearing sound after sound and it seemed it was starting to get louder and louder. He cupped his hands over his ears and crumbled to the earth as all the sounds seemed to be bombarding him. The sounds kept getting louder until Clark felt as if his head were going to explode. And for the first time since he had put on the ring Clark wanted his father. He knew he would have an idea for him to overcome the sounds.

*****

Jonathan walked into the house with Martha holding his arm. It was morning and she had just been released from the hospital. He looked around the house. It was so silent that it was eerie. He had been used to little sounds that he had heard all his life. Like Clark walking around in his room or the sound of a radio in the kitchen, but the only sounds were them walking into the living room. "Did you want me to help you to the room?"

"I'm not broken Jonathan. I can move to the room if I need to." Martha said without feeling in her voice.

Jonathan was starting to wonder if things would ever be the same. It seemed like it had been weeks since he had told Martha that Clark had had run away, but it had only been one night. He looked around the house then back to Martha. "I'm going to be out tending to the cattle. If you need me just yell and I will help you."

"I'll be okay." She gave him a weak smile.

Jonathan looked at her not quit believing her. He didn't want to leave her but he had his responsibility to the livestock. He also wanted to keep busy, he didn't want to let what happened to fully sink in. He figured if he would have time to think about it he might slip into the semi-zombie state that Martha seemed to be in.

"Go Jonathan. I'll be okay."

Jonathan forced himself to move out the door and to the truck then moved into his daily routine.

"Jonathan, lunch is ready!" surprised to hear Martha's voice. He had not realized that the time had passed that quickly. He had been going through the motions not thinking about anything but the last words he had said to Clark. It wasn't exactly the words that had been said but more the tone in which they were spoken. He slowly walked up to the house. Martha was smiling and standing on the porch with a sandwich on a plate. He knew she was forcing the happiness. But he remembered a saying his father used to say, "Fake it until you become it." Jonathan smiled back and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He wondered if she would still be in her happy mood and smiling to him if she knew it was because of him that Clark ran off.

*****

Scott, Ororo, Logan and Professor Xavier were speaking in Xaviers office. It was the next morning and Scott was angry at himself for not making his trip to Smallville faster. He had grabbed a couple of the meteors incase one was not enough. Xavier kept telling him there was nothing he could have done had he been here. He wanted to believe it but he had a responsibility to the school and the students to protect them. He looked across the room and saw Ororo's bruised neck. _What kind of monster would do something like that?_

"He is not a monster Scott." Xavier said. "He is a teenage boy who is probably scared. From what we have learned from Pete, he is more of a protector of his town and this red kryptonite is affecting him mentally. He can't help what he is doing. Clark will be an extremely hard case but as soon as we get the ring away from him he will be okay."

"I say we just get rid of the boy." Logan said. Everyone in the room looked at him surprised. "Don't look at me like that. He came here to kill all of us."

"I don't think he would have been able to." Ororo said as she unknowingly touched her neck. "I saw it in his eyes. It was almost as if he didn't know what he was doing."

"Believe me someone like that knows what they are doing." Logan argued.

"It wasn't just what I saw in his eyes," she said as she looked as Xavier. "His grip was loosening just before Tracy yelled."

*****

Pete lay on the bed staring up in the dark. He knew it was morning but he hadn't gotten up to turn on the light so he was laying in pitch black. He wondered what lay in store for him today. Yesterday Clark had broken into the mansion and what he had heard from Kurt last night it hadn't been pretty. He didn't know any of the details but he knew that it wasn't good. He heard a poof and knew Kurt had just come into the room. 

The light switched on and Pete again laid eyes on the strangest person he had met yet. He was surprised at himself for getting over meeting a blue man so quickly. "Are you okay?" Kurt asked concerned.

"Yeah." Pete sat up and smiled. It had only been half a day since Pete had met Kurt but he felt a sort of kinship toward him.

"Professor Xavier said that you could come upstairs today to meet the other people your age if you vanted to."

He must have had a surprised look on his face because Kurt spoke, "You don't hev to if you don't vant to."

"No, I would like to get out of this room." Pete said surprising himself. Inside he was freaking out but he knew that he should meet the people before passing judgment. He had been thrown in the mix with Kurt and even though he looks like a blue demon he was a pretty nice man.

"Do you vant me to take you or do you vant to valk?"

"I think I want to walk. I want to see what this place looks like too." Pete took a breath and stepped out into the hall.

*****

The day before was the buzz of the mansion. All the students who had not been there to witness the occasion have been asking question after question. Rogue was getting sick of it but she could tell that Bobby and Peter were enjoying it. They were sitting on a couch with a crowd of the younger kids around them. Both were telling of their share in helping to get rid of the person who had threatened their lives.

"I hear that there is another boy downstairs." She heard someone say behind her.

"Kitty saw him. Do you think he is like the other one and wants to kill us all?" Said another.

Rogue was about to turn around and yell at them to shut up when all the talking stopped and she turned around to see Professor Xavier and Storm walk into the room. "I know you all know of the boy down stairs. I want you to know that he is human and will not be hurting any of you. I have given him permission to come up if he wants to. While he is up here I don't want any of you treating him differently."

Xavier talked of how their powers might frighten him so to not use them in front of him. After a small lecture they left the room. Rogue knew they were probably going to go after the boy. As soon as they were gone everyone started talking.

She left the room and walked down the hall she was heading to her room. She didn't want to meet this boy. As she walked by the elevator it dinged and she froze. She expected to see the boy step out in front of her but it was Nightcrawler. "Kurt, hi." She said moving toward him then she watched as the boy stepped out and she stopped moving again. She saw the boy looking around amazed and scared. Instantly she felt a little better knowing he was probably just as scared as her, he also frightened her because scared people can do stupid things.

"Hello, Rogue dis iz Pete." Kurt waved his hand to Pete then back to Rogue. "Pete dis iz Rogue."

*****

Chloe walked into the living room. She set down her bag and sighed. She had spent the entire day at the Torch. She had pulled every article that had anything to do with Clark. After doing that she was exhausted and needed to sleep. She had stacked all the articles and placed them in her bag. She didn't want anyone to see that she was investigating Clark. She was about ready to sit on the couch and relax when Lana walked in the back door. Chloe felt a pang of jealousy and grabbed her bag. She didn't want to wait around to hear Lana say how excellent Clark was. 

She started to walk toward her room when Lana spoke. "Have you heard about Clark?"

_Didn't move fast enough,_ she thought with a grimace. Chloe forced a smile and turned to face her. The look on Lana's face shocked her. Lana was pail and her lips were white. She looked like she hadn't sleep for a couple of days. She knew something terrible had happened. _They probably broke up,_ a voice in her head said. _Good, _she thought jealously.

"Clark is missing." Lana said.

Those words seemed to echo in Chloe's head, the bag dropped from her hand. The articles spread across the floor. Lana bent down and picked up the papers. Chloe realized what Lana was doing and quickly grabbed all the articles and threw them in her bag. She looked at Lana to see if there was any clue that she saw anything. 

Lana was looking at her but not with shock or disgust but of sadness. "That's not all." Lana said as she stood when Chloe did. "Pete is missing too."

"I have to go." Chloe couldn't think of anything to say she turned and walked into her room closing the door behind her. She dropped her bad and fell on her bed. She grabbed the picture sitting next to her bed. It had her in the center with Clark and Pete standing on both sides. It had been taken about two years ago on a camping trip. She smiled as she remembered how much fun they had had. Then angry with herself for feeling anything for Clark she shoved the picture between the mattresses.

*****

Lana stared at Chloe's door. She had been out all day hoping to find Clark in anyplace she could think of. She had snuck into the caves she knew he liked and to the old tree house that she knew he had played in when he was younger. She had searched everywhere she could think of. She wondered when Clark and Pete would be in the news. 

_Why would Clark just run away? I have never seen him run away from a problem in my life. And why is Pete missing too?_

She had saw the articles that fell out of Chloe's bag. She remembered some of the story headlines that Clark had been involved in, otherwise she would never have noticed anything. Now a new question plagued her. _Why would Chloe have a lot of articles on Clark? Is she doing a story on him?_


	9. Accepted

Pete looked around the silent room, all eyes were on him. He felt like his skin were see-through and everyone could see his insides. Rogue had led him into a room with about fifteen people around his age and younger. He wished he could melt into the floor and disappear. Rogue introduced him and a couple of the people gave nods of recognition but no one moved. 

Pete scanned the room and saw the girl whom he had seen come through the wall. When his eyes met hers she took a small step back and behind a large boy. The boy stood protectively in the same movement as hers, Pete got the sense that they were together.

Another boy that had been sitting on the couch stood and moved across the room. "My names Bobby," he said as he put a friendly hand out in front of him. Pete smiled and shook it, glad someone took the initiative to speak. "I see you've met my girl Rogue." He said smiling as he slipped his hand into hers. "Well this is Tracy," he said as he led Pete across the room to a girl with red hair and light freckles. 

She gave a frightened look and glared at Bobby. The tension of fear in the air was so thick, Pete felt it was hard to breath. Everyone seemed to be afraid of him as if he were a bomb about ready to explode. Bobby introduced him to a few more people all of them seemed equally scared. Then they made it to the large boy and the girl who came through his wall. "This is Kitty and Peter."

"We've met, I saw you downstairs." She gave a surprised squeak, then he felt curious and asked the question before he could stop himself. "How do you do it?" She looked at him, her eyes wide with what Pete could only describe as a mix of fear and surprise. "I'm sorry. . . I - I . . ." _Why do I always have to loose my ability to speak when I'm nervous?_ he asked himself. "Never mind." He wondered if everyone in this room knew of her amazing ability. Ever since he learned of Clark the world seemed to get stranger and stranger. _Clark! What is going on with him? Will I be able to get my best friend back?_

*****

Lex looked out at the ocean. It was the only scenery he had seen for about two days now. He sat on a beach that looked as if a hurricane had recently hit. The sand was covered with palm tree leaves and seaweed. He listened to the ocean crash upon the rocks. He gave a slight laugh, all this water and his throat was dry. He had felt so desperate for water this morning that he tried to drink some of the ocean. Bad idea, after that he had lost the last precious nutrients from his body, heaving it into the sea.

His stomach churned in pain, demanding food. Lex looked down at the handful of seaweed in his hand. As uninviting as it looked Lex slowly brought it to his mouth and took a bite. He spit it back out as his stomach gave a dry heave anticipating bad seawater. Angrily he threw the weed back at the sea.

Unwillingly Lex stood and started to walk the beach again. He had been searching for something to eat, when he had decided to try the seaweed. He looked up at the palm trees hopefully. He watch the wind move the leaves hoping he would catch site of a coconut. So far all the trees had been barren. The leaves moved this way and that and Lex felt himself getting hypnotized by the motion. He wanted to close his eyes and just go to sleep, but he shook his head trying to wake himself. 

"Lex." A young female voice said. Lex turned his head quickly wanting to find her. "Lex."

"Helen? Helen where are you?" Lex said as he looked desperately to find the body of the voice. "What happened on the jet?"

"Lex."

Lex looked around then he saw her on the beach, he ran in her direction. "Helen!" He yelled as he propelled himself faster, thankful to see her. "Helen." He said as he finally came to her. He put his hand out reaching for her cheek. He wanted to feel her soft skin under his touch again. His hand went through her and she disappeared into the wind. "No!" he yelled. He fell to his knees and curled in the sand. "Helen." He said quietly to himself.

He wanted to wake up from this bad nightmare.

*****

Scott drove his car down a back road. He loved the purr of the engine as he revved it needlessly. He loved the feeling of the high speed with control in his hands. He had been driving for about twenty minutes when the phone rang and he talked to the Professor. Scott was alone on this mission as he and Xavier agreed that Clark would automatically flee if he saw two people approach him.

Xavier had told him where Clark was at, only about fifteen minutes away. The plan was to get the kryptonite close enough to Clark, and he would be weak enough for him to pull the ring off his finger. The thought also crossed his mind to just blast the thing off. He decided if the opportunity presented itself, that is just what he would do. 

He pulled to a stop and pulled the keys out of the ignition. His hand brushed against the slash mark that Logan had made when he had driven the car last month. He had been so angry when he finally got the car back. He had to go pick it up at a car impound as it had been left at Bobby's parent's house. It took a lot of convincing for the police to believe that he had nothing to do with the incident at Bobby's house. He finally had told them that it had been stolen and he hadn't had enough time to report it before he had learned it was at the impound.

He stepped out with the kryptonite in a jacket pocket. He was wearing his uniform under his street clothes for added protection. He closed his eyes and removed his glasses, then replaced them with his visor. He wanted to be ready for Clark. 

*****

Clark had suffered through the loud sounds for hours before he could bring some control to it. Now he was walking to nowhere in particular because he had no idea where he was. He didn't feel like moving fast at this time so he stayed at a walking speed. He wasn't finished with the school yet, he wanted a rematch. He was going to handle it differently this time. This time he was going to take a hostage and use them to take control. He looked at the trees and into the woods around him, everything seemed to be at the right sound level. 

Then he heard an engine as it got closer. The car stopped and Clark turned towards the direction. He ran to the area and saw Scott step out of a small, blue sports car. He watched patiently as he pulled off his glasses and replaced them with a visor. Then he stepped out of the trees and spoke, "Nice day for a hike, is it?" 

Scott whipped his head around to face him, a look of surprise on his face. Clark smiled inwardly, he liked getting a reaction out of people. He stopped about twenty feet away from Scott as he assumed he might have some kryptonite with him. "Come closer so we can talk." Scott said.

That confirmed it now, Clark knew that Scott had some kryptonite with him. "I'm fine at this distance, thank you." He saw the disappointment on Scott's face. 

"Clark you need to stop this. We know your not like this."

"Why should I stop? I like this feeling."

"What feeling is that?"

"That I don't have to care anymore what people will think of me. I can do whatever I want without fear of exposure or if they will accept me. I just no longer care."

"I know how you feel. I wish I could get rid of that fear also."

"_You?_" Clark said with venom in his mouth.

"Yes, _me_, if you hadn't noticed I am different too. I would give anything to be normal. To be able to look at the world through normal eyes. To not have to worry about killing someone if I looked at them. To not have to worry about acceptance."

"Then join me."

Clark would never forget the look he witnessed on Scott's face. The look that truly told Clark that he must have gone too far. For Scott looked at him like he was the worst enemy a man could ever have. "I could never join you."

"Then this conversation is over. I will see you back at the mansion." He sped off as a tree slowly exploded next to him. Clark smiled, he had to give it to Scott. He didn't give up so easily.

In minutes he was back at the mansion. This time he was going to make a quiet entrance. All he needed was one hostage then there was no playing around. Clark came up to the side fence and climbed over it in seconds. He walked through the trees and heard some kids playing basketball. He stopped before anyone could see him. He watched as some boys were playing.

Clark looked around to see three girls sitting on a bench. One of them was the girl that had screamed earlier. First thing he would do is take her out before she could scream again. He looked at the other two girls, one had dark hair and looked Asian. He looked at the last girl, she sat a little apart from the other girls. The sign of a true outcast, who never felt quite comfortable around others. Clark didn't want two hostages though and was prepared to take two of them out, but then the Asian girl stood and walked away. _Perfect_ he said to himself as he took a step out of the trees.

"Hey unfair." Clark stopped and stepped back. He looked for the body of the familiar voice. Pete was talking to a young boy who was holding the basketball. He was smiling and enjoying himself. Clark felt a pang of jealousy. Pete had only been here about one day and he looked like he had already accepted this group of freaks. When it had taken him a few days to accept him . . . Clark . . . his best friend since kindergarten.

This angered Clark and he moved on the girls in one motion, he knocked out the red head girl and grabbed the other girl around her waist pinning her arms to her sides. She let out a small cry and the boys stopped the game looking in their direction.

"Clark!" Pete said surprised.

*****

Logan didn't care what the Professor, or Ororo said, if he saw the boy again he wasn't going to hesitate to take him down. There was only one way to deal with someone like that. That boy had threatened everything and everyone that he had come to care for.

He looked out his window and saw some of the students playing basketball. The human boy, Pete, was playing with them. It had been a rocky first few hours but they all seemed to be fine now. They were all laughing and joking with each other. 

Logan saw Kurt sitting off to the side watching the game. His tail twitching with excitement, somehow this boy and Kurt seemed to have formed a bond. Logan snorted with the thought. Kurt was one of the most annoying people he had ever met.

He turned from the window when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned back quickly and looked into the trees. There he was, the boy who had just threatened his family. Logan gave a low growl and ran down the stairs. 

No one threatened his family. No one.

****

Sorry it is taking so long with chapter 10, but I promise you that this story will be finished.


	10. And Then There Was Nothing

****

Please re-read chapter 9 as I have revised it a little, 10/20/2003. I am so very SORRY it has taken me so long to update, but as I said this will be finished.

Scott's heart raced as he sped down the road. "Please don't let me be too late." He said to himself. He knew in his gut that Clark was heading for the mansion. With that thought he pushed on the gas harder. He kicked himself for not going on the offensive immediately when he saw Clark. He wouldn't make the mistake again. The next time he saw him he was just going to blast the ring off his finger.

*****

Lana stood at the table at the Kent's farm. She had been there since the break of dawn along with Chloe, Mrs. Ross and of course Mrs. Kent. Lana could feel the uneasiness coming from Chloe. She was sure it had something to do with the articles she had of Clark. Chloe at first didn't want to come to the Kent's farm but Lana had finally convinced her to come. Chloe had been quiet the whole time not saying a word. Which was unusual for Chloe.

There were boxes of flyers with Clark and Pete's faces printed on them. They had worked for hours getting the papers ready and then printing the amount they had. The Sheriff told them that the next thing they could do would be to put flyers up all over town and in neighboring towns and cities. And pray that someone has seen them.

"Thanks again everyone for helping us put this together." Mrs. Kent said. Lana could see she hadn't slept for days.

"There is no need to thank us. We wanted to do this." Chloe said as she grabbed the next stack of flyers from the printer.

"Now the hard part is getting these out there," Mrs. Ross said as she grabbed a staple gun and a box of flyers. "My family can start putting them up in town." She looked just as bad as Mrs. Kent, Lana noted. Mrs. Ross walked out the door.

Chloe quickly grabbed a staple gun and box and headed for the door. "I'll take Metropolis." 

"Chloe, you can't do Metropolis by yourself." Mrs. Kent said but it was too late Chloe's car engine was already started and she was heading down the road.

"I guess that leaves us." Lana said. "Thing is, I don't have a car."

"We can go together." Mrs. Kent said as she grabbed the keys for the truck.

Lana took her cue and grabbed a staple gun and box of flyers. She followed Mrs. Kent to the truck and got in the passenger seat. 

"We'll take the road that Jonathan said Clark had followed." Then she turned on the engine. They drove down the road for a while in silence before she spoke again. "Is there something going on between you and Chloe? I noticed the two of you haven't say a word to each other."

Lana knew what the answer was but how could she tell her that Chloe was investigating Clark?

*****

Jonathan watched all the vehicles leave as he stood out in the field. He was thankful that Martha now had a project to work on. He wanted to be out there hanging flyers with them but with Clark gone he had a lot more work that needed to be done on the farm. He would much rather have been looking for Clark but Martha convinced him that he could help by keeping the farm going so that Clark would have a home to return to.

*****

Chloe had to get out of the house. When she saw Mr. and Mrs. Kent's faces she knew she had made a mistake. She never should have accepted Lionel Luther's offer, but being near Lana also keep her blood boiling in contempt and renewed her bitterness toward Clark.

She drove down the road to Metropolis. Something in her gut told her that would be where Clark would go. She just knew it and if she found Clark maybe he would see how much she cared for him and he would forget about Lana. _Yeah, right!_

*****

Pete watched Clark, he could see the anger in his eyes. Then he looked at Rogue's face, there was fear painted all over it. He wanted to do something to help both his friends, "Clark, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like Pete? I'm taking over." Clark said with a sneer. 

Pete heard something in Clark's voice he thought he would never hear, malignant hatred. "Clark man, this isn't you. Why are you doing this?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Clark yelled angrily then his voice turned cold. "I have no one."

"What are you talking about? You have-"

"You have no idea what it is, to live like me. To be the only one left-" Clark stopped. Pete was surprised that Clark had nearly given up the last of his secret.

Then he saw as pain and surprise flicked across Clark's face.

*****

Logan burst through the doors and was across the grounds in seconds. By the time he was to Rogue she already had Clark in her grip. Silently he encouraged her to suck him dry. He threatened his family, the boy deserves death.

*****

Rogue was scared to death. She felt the strong arms wrapped around her. She had witnessed the strength of this boy and didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. Then she felt energy flowing into her. She noticed that the boy had grabbed her where her arms weren't covered. Thank goodness for small favors. 

She had never felt anything like this before. She could feel her strength building. Energy was racing around her body, she could feel everything. Then felt as the arms wrapped around her started to weaken.

She saw Bobby take a step forward. "Bobby no!" 

His grip loosened, she grabbed an arm and turned around to look at the boy's face. She saw fear as he tried a futile effort to free himself with his other hand, but she could feel that every second she became stronger and he became weaker. He tried to free himself again but she tightened her grip. She started to see a bright yellow almost white light, of energy flowing into her. The boy finally fell to one knee. Alarm was etched into his face. Then all at once it happened. 

The memories started to flash through her mind in sense-surround. She could smell, feel and hear them, his memories were now hers. They were so quick she couldn't make any sense of them. Pete and a blonde girl, Chloe, laughing. His mom and dad hugging him, a space ship exploding. Then memory after memory of him helping people, trying to fix it all. She knew he thought it all was his fault. 

She heard a rasping breath and now realized that Clark was laying on the ground, unconscious. "Stop it, your killing him!" She heard Pete yell. She let go and stood up. She looked She watched as Pete kneeled down by Clark and removed the class ring with red kryptonite in it. She now knew everything about Clark. 

*****

There was nothing, the best way Clark could describe it was there was _nothing._ There was no up, down, forward or backward. Nothing above or below, no light nor dark. He could feel nothing. Sense nothing. He tried to run but went nowhere. Tried to breath but there was nothing to breath. He tried to yell but no sound came from his mouth. 

Time didn't exist. It was eternity and it was just moments. Then a thought crossed Clark. 

_Is this death?_


	11. Dealing

Pete looked at Clark's lifeless body, or it looked lifeless. He couldn't even see him breathing. He would have thought he were dead if it weren't for the steady beeping of the heart monitor. _What had Rogue done to him?_

He knew that Kitty could walk through walls and Kurt could teleport, Scott had the optic blast thing going on. He also remembered Ororo saying she was a mutant, but had not thought to wonder if the rest of the people here were all gifted as well. _Duh!_ He yelled at himself. He remembered Professor Xavier saying he was at his school for the gifted. _Great one Pete, you get a medal for missing the obvious as usual._

He heard a poof next to him, strangely that sound was already familiar to him. He didn't say anything to him. He had nothing to say right now.

"I brought you a sandvich." Kurt said.

"I'm not hungry." He sat in silence for a moment longer. "Kurt? Is everyone at the mansion a . . . different?"

"Ja." 

He turned to him and asked a question that had been bugging him since he first learned that Clark had attacked the mansion. "Do you think they will understand that he didn't mean to do what he did?"

"I have not been vis zese people long, but I do know zat zey do forgive if zey had no control over it."

"How do you know they will forgive him?"

He then looked down and away from Pete as if he were ashamed, "because zey forgave me." He then looked Pete in the eyes. I vas ze von who attacked ze President," Then quickly he added, "but I had no control over it. I vas zere but I couldn't stop myself."

"You were the one that did that?" Pete asked surprised. He looked back at Clark again, feeling a little more secure about Clark's situation.

*****

Clark had days, years, minutes, months, seconds to think about what he had done. He had thought of all the details, and perfected them to such perfect clarity that he could practically tell you how many hairs were on the screaming girl's head. He would be able to tell you how many trees he had passed from his house to this silent nothingness. He analyzed every facial expression. He feared what the people would do to him? They had no reason to trust him. He had given them plenty of reasons to fear and hate him. How could he ever go back to normal life after all he had done?

He found himself thinking of Lana. He formed her face in his mind. He liked her eyes how they were always smiling in the face of what life had to thrown her. He remembered the way her nose crinkled when she was trying to be serious. They way she looked at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Then he had left her. He had put on that stupid ring and left her in the dust. She made the right decision, of not coming with him. He could have gotten her killed. He didn't think he would have been able to handle that on his conscious.

He tried to move again but it was hard to when he felt nothing. Even if he were moving he figured he wouldn't be able to tell.

*****

Bobby watched Rogue as she stared out the window. She hadn't said anything since the day before. When she had touched Clark. He knew _his_ thoughts were running through her mind. She had tried to describe it to him once when he had been curious how it had felt to be on her side of here ability.

He moved next to her and touched her covered arm. She pulled away from under him with the speed he had only seen with Clark. She tried to smile, but he could see it was forced. "Are you alright?"

"Of course. I just need to think through some things." She got up and started to leave.

"You know you can talk to me, about anything."

She stepped back toward him and placed her hand on his cheek. "It's okay Bobby, I just need some time to think." Then she turned and walked out of the room.

*****

Lex sat on the beach staring at the sunset. Running through everything that had happened to him. What had happened to the jet? What happened to everyone? Was Helen at the bottom of the ocean? Was she in the middle of the ocean on a life raft, hoping a ship would pass by? Or was she safe, laughing with her friends about how she fooled the rich man? No, she wouldn't do that, couldn't do that. Could she? He pushed the thought out of his mind. "No!" He yelled as he stood.

He then picked up the coconut; he hit it against a sharp rock until a crack spread across it. Some coconut milk spilled onto the ground, he quickly held it over his mouth and drank the precious moisture. He shook the last drops and looked around the ground. He had finally found a spot with fresh coconuts that had fallen to the ground.

"You need to find fresh water." He told himself. "Why didn't you put me in boy scouts, Dad?" He yelled in to the sky. "You prepared me for everything life could throw at me but this." He threw the now empty coconut in his pile. There was starting to be a small cache of emptied coconuts for him to eat.

He grabbed three new coconuts and put them in his shirt. He tied the sleeves together and flung them over his shoulder. Then he started his quest once again, his search for fresh water and something to eat besides these coconuts.

*****

"Thank you for meeting with me Dr. McCoy." Xavier said as he shook the young doctor's hand.

"Please call me Hank." Henry McCoy said. He was a large man with brown hair and round spectacles. His limbs were slightly larger than normal. Xavier knew he was a mutant. He also knew that Hank hides his abilities from everyone he knows.

"Very well, Hank. I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here?" Knowing exactly what Hank was thinking. 

"You read my mind." Hank said joking, not know how true it was.

Xavier smiled then continued, "I have watched your interviews on television and read some of your doctorates. And I was wondering where you stand on the issue of mutants?" He knew from what he had read that Hank had no ill will toward mutants but he needed to hear it out loud. 

Hank now looked at the Professor curiously. "I think that if we just talk to them, we would find that we all want the same thing. To live in peace."

Xavier smiled, he liked that answer, "Very admirable, Hank. I'm sure you are wondering my reasons for this question. I run a private school and I am in need of a doctor."

"Why not go to a hospital?"

"I feel my students would not be very welcome at a hospital."

"So your students are mutants then?" He said as he slightly shifted his weight from one foot to the other then back again.

"Yes and if you don't mind working here, we could use your expertise. You could also use our labs for your own studies as well. Would you like to see them?" 

He stood there for a moment running through his thoughts then answered. "If I may."

"Good, follow me then." Xavier moved out of his office and toward the elevator. They stepped into the white elevator. "I think you will find our labs to be more than sufficient for your work."

"We shall see."

Moments later they were in one of the labs. Hank looked like he was a child in a candy store. As soon as they entered the room his face had lit up and he had been looking at all the instruments since. Moving from one to the next then at some times back again.

"Have you made a decision? Can your work be moved here?"

Hank looked up with a smile on his face. "I should pay you to let me use this equipment."

"So is that a yes then."

"Most definitely." He said with excitement.

Xavier held out his hand for a hand shake and said, "Welcome to the team, Dr. Hank McCoy."

*****

Logan paced back and forth in the hall. _How could Xavier be doing this?_ He had the boy in the mansion. Receiving medical treatment as if he deserved it. He was an animal. 

He was still slightly upset that Rogue had let go. He made the move to go talk to her and went for the elevator. It wasn't hard to find her; she was heading for the front doors. "You're not running again are you?"

She stopped but didn't turn around for a moment. "No, I-I just need some time to think."

He could see she had so many things on her mind. "You know I'm here if you need to talk."

"Why does everyone think I need to talk?" She said angrily.

"I don't know probably because you just absorbed a killer. I know you Rogue; you have his thoughts running around your head."

"I know, that is why I need to think. I promise I won't go all psycho. It was the ring that did that to him. The red..." he could see she was searching for a word, "rock is what affected him. The rock took away all his control."

"Kryptonite, and that's no excuse."

"Yes, it is. Just think of how you would be, if you had your control taken from you and you did anything you wanted with no conscience to hold you back. Don't forget I know you too." She said as she tapped her head. Then she turned and walked out the door.


	12. Choices

Rogue sat separate from everyone, leaning against a tree. She needed to be alone. So many things were running through her mind, mostly Clark's memories and abilities. She had no fear of not knowing how to use them. One of the only few perks of also absorbing the mind. She knew in her heart that this time it was different. Not only had she nearly killed Clark by sucking him to the edge of death, but he was also an alien. She didn't know what effects that would have on her. 

She let out a small laugh. _Alien? Who would have thought? He looked so normal. Of course, so do I._

*****

Chloe watched the keys in her hand. Two of the keys were enemies but in the same way very precious to her. One to the school's back door, the other to the Torch office. She stared at the keys as if they were talking to her. 

It had been ten days now since her two best friends had vanished. She had looked for days in Metropolis to find Clark, she had hoped Pete would be in the same place. She was sure she would find them there. She planned on going again tomorrow.

She knew that it was better to leave the room alone. If she left the room alone then she wouldn't be investigating Clark. She wouldn't be tempted to put more information up on the board. She knew if she went she would be putting her friendship with Clark at risk. No she knew it would be finished. 

But what if she did the research to find her friends? Yes, she was doing this to help them. She wasn't going to do this to find out about Clark she was doing it to find him. What if somewhere in this mystery was the answer to why they were gone? But deep inside her she knew it wasn't to find them; the reporter in her wanted to know everything there was to know about the mystery that was "Clark Kent."

She put the key in the door. Her heart beat faster as if she were doing something to break the law. She turned the key and quickly stepped inside the school then let out a sigh of relief. Through the dark halls she found her way to the Torch office and let herself in. 

*****

Bobby was sick of this. He knew that Rogue needed time. But he wanted to help and something told him that even though she said she wanted to be alone, she really didn't. He knew exactly where she would be. Other than coming in for class, food or sleep she always made here way back to the tree.

He slowed when he approached the tree. He could see her feet sticking out on the other side. He took a deep breath then approached her. "Rogue, I know you said you want to be alone but I don't believe you anymore. It has been about a week since, you know. And I believe you need someone to talk to."

"Did the Professor send you?" She asked as her voice cracked. He could hear she had been crying.

"No," Quickly Bobby moved closer and knelt beside her. She had tears streaming down her face. It looked like she had been crying for a good while. "Rogue..." was all he could get out. Then with instincts he placed his arms around her and hugged.

"Bobby.... " She said as she started to cry more. She hugged him tighter as the sobs got stronger. "I thought you wouldn't...I thought you wouldn't like me anymore."

"How could you think that?" Bobby asked surprised.

"Everyone has been avoiding me... like a plague... I nearly killed Clark." She said as the crying subdued a little.

"No, no we all thought you wanted space. You told me to stay away."

"Then you don't hate me?"

"I could never hate you." They finally let go of each other and Bobby sat on the ground facing her. "Now is there anything else you would like to talk about?" Bobby asked as he smiled. Glad he had not left her alone a moment longer.

*****

Dr. Henry McCoy was running through the hall excited. He almost bowled over a couple students as he ran but dodged them at the last second. "My apologies!" He said as he continued on his way. Seconds later he was at Professor Xavier's office. "Professor! I-" He stopped as he saw eight young faces looking back at him. "I'm sorry I did not realize you had a class." He turned to leave.

"Hank, please stop." Xavier said, then he looked at the children. "Please write a page on your theories of the butterfly effect and turn them in to me tomorrow." The class then left the room. 

"I'm sorry." Hank said as his face lit up once more from excitement.

"No harm, no foul. Please tell me what you have found."

"Clark is the most amazing... well anyway I have found that his abilities appears to be linked directly with the sun. I was growing some Fersilius Corsicrun; it's a plant with the amazing ability to- well back to the point. When I upped the power on the lamps there was a spike in Clark's charts. When I discovered the change at first I was baffled but then I realized that his change happened at the same time that I adjusted the lamps. You see I have modified some of my lamps to duplicate sunlight. So I tested my theory and moved the lamps to be giving Clark direct sunlight. And he instantly started to show improvement. At this rate he should be awake by the end of the day."

*****

Jonathan came in from the field to find Martha sitting in Clark's loft. He could tell she had been crying but she was trying to hide it. He sat down and put his arm around her. She leaned over and lay her head on his shoulder. He knew he must stink to high heaven but he also knew that over the years she didn't care about the smell nearly as much as he thought she did.

"Did we do something wrong? Is it our fault he left?"

"I don't know Martha, I honestly don't know." He kissed the top of her head. "We'll find him. Then he will come home to us."

"What if he doesn't want to be found?"

She ask the right question, the same one that had been plaguing him from the beginning. He gave here a tight squeeze. "We'll find him."

They sat in the loft together until sunset.

*****

"What have you done?" A familiar and hated voice asked.

"No! Stay away from me!" Clark yelled back.

"What have you done, my son?" Jor-El choked as sorrow invading his words.

"If it weren't for you I wouldn't be here!" Clark yelled angrily.

"I did not do this. You are the one to have chosen this path."

"Why do you want me to rule the world? I will not do it. I don't want to harm anyone."

"Your actions would suggest otherwise."

"You have no control over me!"

"No, I don't, and I see now that you were not ready to accept your calling."

"I will not harm anyone for you!"

"My son, I have never asked you to do harm."

"You threatened my family. You threatened to hurt them if I didn't leave."

"I was trying to protect them."

"Protect them from what?! You threatened them!" 

"I was protecting them from you , my son."

Clark felt as if he had just been slapped in the face. Shock spread across his mind. _Was I such a horrible monster that he thought I would hurt them?_ Then he thought to all that had happened. He had hurt them. His mere arrival to this world was cataclysmic.

Lana's parents killed, _my fault._

Tina and her shape shifting, _my fault._

Greg and his bug problem,_ my fault._

Lex and his baldness, m_y fault._

Sean permanently cold, _my fault._

Coach Walt's pyrokinesis, _my fault._

Principal Kwan's murder, _my fault._

The nicodemus plant, Jeremy Creek in a coma, Ian and well, Ian, Dr. Walden, Dr. Hamilton, and countless others effected by the meteors, _all my fault._

I am a monster.


	13. Waking Up

"This burn on his chest is quite baffling." Dr. McCoy said as he examined Clark again. "The burn is a diamond-cut pentagon with an up and down infinity inside it. I wonder if he did it to himself or if something happened to him. Which is in and of it's self baffling because the cuts that Logan gave the boy have left no trace and are completely healed." He said as he moved to Clark's abdomen.

Clark was still in a coma. He was starting to wonder if his theory of the sunlight was correct. "The boy should have woken up days ago but he is still in a coma. It is almost as if the boy wants to stay in a coma. Every physical test I have given him shows he should have been awake days ago."

He looked up as he heard Pete walk into the room. He had to admire the boy's persistence. Pete came to visit Clark every morning and before he went to bed and various times during the day. If Clark was going to recover -not from the coma, but from whatever he was battling- he knew that Pete was part of the antidote. The rest of the antidote was on it's way. "Good morning, Pete." Dr. McCoy said as he turned off the tape recorder to which he had been talking.

"Morning Hank." Pete said as he walked over to Clark.

"I'll leave you two alone." Dr. McCoy said as he left the room. Before he left he took one last look at Clark and asked a question that had been bothering him for days. "Why don't you want to wake up, Clark? What are you afraid of?"

* * * * *

Pete walked out of the elevator and toward the dining room where some of the kids were having breakfast. He sat down next to Kitty and looked around. Most of them accepted him and didn't seem scared anymore. It felt good to be so easily befriend them. He had only been there a couple of week but it seemed as if he knew them longer. 

"Is it true? that Clark is an alien?" Kitty asked as she turned to him. "Rogue said that he is not a mutant but an alien."

The whole room went silent -they all looked at him. Waiting for him to confirm what Rogue had been telling them. It wasn't his secret to tell, but it seemed a little ridiculous to keep up a charade -this whole school dealt with the extraordinary. "It's true."

You could hear a pin drop -the room erupted in chatter as people talked about aliens. 

"So then, what Rogue has been saying about the ring was true?"

"What did she say?"

"Like, that the ring made Clark do all the evil things and that it wasn't really him."

Pete nodded; he didn't want to tell her the ring didn't really _make_ Clark do anything. It took away his good inhibitions and it more or less just turned him into a walking Id. "No, it wasn't him. Clark would never hurt anyone."

* * * * *

Lex looked at his newly built shelter. Large leaves over lap each other crossing in a triangle between three trees. Though it looked as if a strong wind came by it would fall down. He was still proud of it as he made it on his own -at least it would block the rain and the sun at mid-day. There was a cache of coconuts piled to the side of it; next to that a little puddle of fish swimming around. He remembered when he found the stream with the fish. He danced, hollered and whooped all day. Only stopping to catch fish and eat it. Now he made the puddle to save fish for when he didn't have time to walk to the other side of the island. It was very helpful, as there were no refrigerators.

He moved and lay under the leaves with his arms behind his head as a pillow. He closed his eyes imagining he was back at the mansion in his bed. There was a cold glass of lemonade next to the table with ice. Oh, of all things ice is one of the things he missed the most. Then he could feel the air from the air conditioning; it blew across his face. 

Helen walked into the room and he smiled. It had been so long since he had seen her. She picked up a pillow and hit him with it; again and again she hit him. Then she stopped and held him down with the pillow. He tried to yell for help but no sound came out. Why would Helen be doing this? He tried to holler again. Suddenly he was covered with leaves. He could hear the wind as it whistled above him. He could tell it was a tropical storm starting.

"I HATE THIS PLACE!"

* * * * * 

Chloe walked into the Torch's office and pulled the shutter closed. Then popped the board open and revealed her progress on her investigation of Clark Kent. Chloe stared at the board. She knew Clark could do something with heat. She put all the articles together and with each fire incident Clark was there. A line was drawn from **Clark** to **fire**. Below **fire** she wrote **how?**

Just then her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller id. I said unavailable but she knew who it was.

Lionel Luther had been dogging her for information. He was becoming impatient. "I have told you already Mr. Luther, I need more time. It has only been a couple of weeks and Clark isn't even here." There was a pause as she listened to the man's voice. "Yes Mr. Luther. I understand." Then she hung up the phone.

She didn't know why she was so angry with Clark. They had been friends so long that she should never have even thought of doing this to him. Every time she would think of calling off the investigation she would think of Lana or see her when she came home. Then her blood would start to boil again and her curiosity would grow again.

She sat at the desk and unlocked a drawer, pulled out a stack of papers and set them on her desk. She had started to go through each article one by one marking when Clark had been near the incident. She knew most of the time it was because of meteor mutants but there were the few articles that appeared to have nothing to do with mutants. 

* * * * *

Clark struggled in this black nothingness again. Then he felt something -heat, warmth, wonderful warmth. He wanted more of it. He didn't realize it until now but he was cold. He was finished being cold. He thought he found the direction the warmth was coming from and he clawed his way there. Every movement was tiring; which was strange. Excluding the krytonite he had only felt tired once in his life and that was when he had no powers.

A string of light broke through the darkness -Clark fought harder. The harder he fought the more strings of light started to appear. Then the dam that was holding back the light broke and Clark was blinded. He now wanted to hind from the light, impossible now that the dam was broken. It was painful, his eyes burned from the sudden light he wanted to retch. He turned this way and that, left and right, up and down any direction to hide from the light.

Then he felt as if he were falling -he tried to grab anything to stop him but nothing was solid. He hit something solid -the wind was knocked out of him. He tried to breathe as his lungs refused the air. He tried again and again then he received a small breath. He coughed as he tried again for more air. The light was still blinding. His eyes were closed but the light was so much that he felt as if he were going to be blind.

It felt solid underneath him, he crawled to get away from the light; it was everywhere. Then his head hit something, he put his hand up to feel and it was a wall. He stood using the wall for balance. Walking along the wall and found a switch. He flipped it down and the light stopped. Clark cheered to himself. Opening his eyes he looked around. The room didn't look familiar; it looked like it was a hospital room of some sort. Then a picture flashed in his head and he knew where he was. He was at the mansion. He remembered seeing rooms like this one when he had scanned it with his x-ray vision.

Now he wanted out! Panic set in -these people would never forgive him. He tried to use his x-ray vision to find a path to get out, but it didn't work. Running to the door he opened it -surprised to find it was not locked. Light flooded in at him and he slammed the door shut. If he wanted out of here he would have to brave the blinding light. He looked around the room -opening cupboards and drawers looking for something to cover his eyes. Then he found a wrap. He wrapped it around his head covering his eyes. He would be blind but at least it was a dark blind and not a bright blind with the urge to vomit.

He opened the door and felt along the wall. The light was still bright enough that it peeked through the wrap. He stepped around a corner but found too late that it was the wrong move. He heard the door close behind him and he found he was in and elevator. The door opened and he stepped out slowly.

"Clark?"

Clark jumped back and hit the wall he wanted to run, but where? he couldn't see anything.   



End file.
